I’ll try to write my review as spoiler free as possible, but be aware there might be spoilers for previous books.

Empress of Fae, third book in Blood of a Fae series, was epic sequel. The book continues right where the second one ended, when Morgan ran through arches to Camelot, away from Draven and Myntra.

We have new characters (Guinevere, Fenyx, Tuva…), some you’ll love and some you’ll hate.
Our MC develops so much through the story, she believes she’s not fit to rule Camelot and that she doesn’t deserve all that power but she’ll learn that sometimes the power is not as a big burden as you can help others.
The same goes for Lancelet. They were both through a lot and especially Lancelet in book 1, she blames Morgan for leaving her to die. But their friendship is strong and they’ll be able to overcome everything together.
Orcades returns in this book, at first I was skeptical, as I wasn’t sure what her intentions are. But I just loved her very much, her character and personality were very unique. She was a good sister to Morgan even though they’ll just starting to get to know each other.

Multiple, but mostly dual, POV was once again welcomed as it gave more informations about what’s happening in Camelot, but also we get Draven’s POV, he’s on his way to his wife and he’s ready to support her in every way she needs.
I loved “the dreams”, when Morgan would meet with Draven and it was great to see them work through their feelings and for Morgan to forgive Draven. Their relationship had to deal with some obstacles and the distance between them (quite literally) wasn’t easy.

This book had definitely the heaviest aspect, there’s war, war crimes, death and so much more. I really enjoyed Morgan spying for rebels.

The ending was something else entirely. There were twists and we get new enemy to focus on.
I was devastated and I cried when we lost one character that really grew on to me.
I’m excited to read next book and find out more about Morgan, Draven and their friends + family. I hope we’ll get more of Lyrastra and other characters from Myntra though.

Briar Boleyn has done it once again👏👏

From the moment this book begins you’re thrown into the action. It’s incredibly fast paced and plotted out so well. I can’t believe how many twists there were that I didn’t see coming and had me gasping. Keep in mind, there were some very heavy topics and scenes with Pendrath going to war and Arthur getting more paranoid by the second. I’m grateful the author included a detailed list of TW for those who may be sensitive to those topics.

I love how strong Morgan was in this book. Not that she wasn’t in the others but she was so confident in her abilities and powers. I particularly enjoyed when she got her revenge on Fenyx.

Of course I wish there had been more scenes between Morgan and Draven but it made sense for the story and character progression for them to be apart for almost the whole book. This was definitely a transition book in the series to really build up the conflict before the finale. With everything that happened and the secrets that were uncovered, I’m so excited to read the next - and final😢- book in the series.

I have been eagerly waiting for Empress of Fae since Court of Claws came out. I love all retellings of myths and fairytales, and the Blood of a Fae series has been absolutely amazing for me! It remixes so much of Arthurian lore with fae lore in the most perfect way. Book 3 picks up after Morgan made a desperate run through the arches, leaving Myntra and Draven behind to return to Camelot. But her home is much changed from when she left, with Arthur having become even more monstrous and his pointless war costing everyone much. Morgan must find a way to help, and she finds herself landing in a dangerous situation. While she finds herself now able to walk in dreams, where she meets the mate she left behind.

This is definitely the heaviest of the books in the series thus far. There’s a lot of awful war crimes going on, a populace starving and freezing to death, torture, executions, and so on. While the prior books had touches of these, it was not so dark as this one. And that is exactly what Morgan lands in. After fleeing Myntra due largely due to her grief over Beks, along with finding out the truth about her and Draven’s mate bond and marriage, she now finds herself with even more grief to throw atop the pile. She makes it her mission to be of use to them, in whatever way Merlin sees fit. And Merlin sees fit to make her a spy. Merlin makes a devastating choice to get Arthur to take Morgan back to court, giving her an alibi for her time away. The horror around her doesn’t seem to stop. Each step of her journey it only gets worse.

I love Morgan’s character so much, and you can really see how much she’s changed from the start. She’s always been a strong character, but she’d learning how to turn herself into quite the formidable woman. Not just with a sword either. She resists power, runs from it, tries to hand it off. She doesn’t think she’s suitable to wield it. But Excalibur makes it clear as day. She has farther to go to learn this, but the first hints of who she could be are there. Even as she has to deal with another deranged admirer, she handles it incredibly well. Skeeved out, yes. But she manages to keep her head and find ways around Arthur and his cohorts. Morgan has to face a lot more tough choices on the horizon, but she’s gets quite the crash course here.

The rebellion storyline was a lot fun. I loved seeing the ebb and flow of them. Morgan lands with them at the beginning, and their hands are all but tied. After Morgan goes back to the Rose Court, you only see or hear about them in small snippets here and there as they make dramatic rescues. Until the end of the story, when things change and they finally go into action. It fit nicely against the backdrop of Arthur’s plots and schemes and his bizarre colosseum style executions/tests. As well as Draven’s plot as he begins making his way to Morgan with an army at his back. Morgan herself being the main plot, and who were following, we gets bits of them all around her own plot line. All the plots intersect well and you never feel like too much is going on, or not enough. It’s all balanced perfectly.

Morgan and Draven’s relationship is one of my favorite aspects of this series. I was nearly ripping my hair out when she ran at the end of the last book, especially knowing they were now an ocean apart and likely wouldn’t have much on page time together this book. And in some ways, that’s sort of the case. But the dreams they begin sharing allow them to visit one another before they reconnect in person. I think this was a great way to do it. You couldn’t really have them so far apart and not talking, or readers would have been too frustrated for the length of time it takes versus the length of time they spend together in person. And all the unresolved issues couldn’t go another full book! The dreams give them the chance to talk and work things out together. Their interactions were still my favorite part! They are truly perfect together, and I loved every moment with them!

This book all leads up to a wonderful climax. Each string you’re following playing into it. I loved watching it unfold and all the different aspects to it. There was also some badass magic on display from Morgan and the sword at one point, and whatever it did showed us a completely new side to it. I’m so intrigued by the sword, Orcades’s words to Morgan at the end, and the king. And how all are going to lead Morgan to her destiny. I’m so incredibly excited to see this unfold in book 4, and already can’t wait to read it! I’m also excited to see more of Morgan and Draven. The bits we do get are wonderful, but I can never have enough of them! I would also love to see more of those found family vibes of display. With everyone so displaced here, we only get small bits of it.

There’s truly so much I want to see and I’ll be thrilled when I can finally read how Briar will wrap this story up! It’s clear Morgan’s father has been much more involved in everything than anyone knew. Without spoiling anything here, all I’ll say I was actually shocked to find out some things here! Orcades warning to Morgan about their father is especially chilling knowing that he’s out there working in the shadows, ensuring what he wants comes to pass. Now there’s the issue with the cup to resolve. Which, by the way, huge props to Javer for proving his true colors! I nearly cheered out loud! But there’s so much gone wrong that needs to be fixed, and it’s all inevitably going to fall to Morgan to handle.

But she does have Myntra and Pendrath with her. And while both armies have clearly seen better days, they at least have them. That’s a start! These shadow monsters popping up may mean more enemies, the same enemies, who knows?! Or what those will mean for their shaky alliances. Everything and everyone outside of the Valtan fae seem to have found their way to Morgan however. And with Guinevere and the owl on hand, I’m hoping we get more answers soon. It’s clear they are at a tipping point, and thanks to Arthur, darkness has found a foothold on their world. But what Morgan’s mother did still isn’t clear, and I’m betting we’ll find out a way that plays into it later on. I can’t wait to see what Morgan and Draven (and their adorable exmoors) do next!